Size Small Caster--Benefit, Detriment, or Neutral?

[Felnar]

who needs a tent when you have a kangaroo for a mount

also, dont bolt cases weigh and cost as much as a swords scabbard?

 

[hong]

I agree, that is why I suggested getting the mule.

Assuming that there will be a character with a high enough strength in the party to carry any gear that is too much for the lighter strength people though seems like a poor policy though. It could be that a party wont have anyone with a high enough strength to do so or that those with a high enough strength simply do not want to help out in that way.

Contrary to popular belief, characters do not exist in bubbles.

 

[Slaved]

Contrary to popular belief, characters do not exist in bubbles.

Thought bubbles perhaps?

 

[Old Gumphrey]

Assuming that there will be a character with a high enough strength in the party to carry any gear that is too much for the lighter strength people though seems like a poor policy though.

While the "nobody-with-good-strength" is certainly possible, I think I've run one game where somebody didn't have a hulking melee destroyer with more than enough strength to carry 15 lbs. of gnome gear...and when is teamwork considered poor policy? Plus why don't people buy a stupid Haversack?

Carrying capacity is like the only small size "penalty" that is actually a bonus and it's being hashed out more than things like -4 grapple (an actual penalty). I just do not get it. Even if I was the most conceited, cruel douchebag of a high-str melee dude, I'd STILL carry the wizard's stuff for him if he couldn't do it himself.

Not because he's feeble and I feel compassion, because I loathe his weakness, but because I want him able to move top speed and throw magical death at our enemies to the best of his ability. As if me having a 150 lb. overhead on my encumbrance won't allow me to easily do this. Hell he could probably hide his stuff in my gear and I wouldn't even notice. That'd be a fun concept, really.

 

[Slaved]

While the "nobody-with-good-strength" is certainly possible, I think I've run one game where somebody didn't have a hulking melee destroyer with more than enough strength to carry 15 lbs. of gnome gear...and when is teamwork considered poor policy? Plus why don't people buy a stupid Haversack?

It costs a lot of points to get a score above 14 though. A medium character with a 14 strength can hold 58 lbs before going into medium load.

Greatsword 8 lbs
Longsword + heavy wooden shield 14 lbs
Chain shirt 25 lbs

We are already up to 33 to 39 lbs and we have not even gotten a good fraction of the amount of gear a normal adventurer would want to have handy and this could easily be the strongest guy in the party!

If we assume that he started at 15 and then put a point into it at level 4, which is a pretty good assumption I think, then his light load extends up to 76 lbs for a light load which is a lot more helpful.

Even with that though once we take into account things like backpack (2 lbs), bedroll (5 lbs), silk rope 50' (5 lbs), climbing gear (5 lbs), sunrods (1 lb each, 6 is a good number to have on hand, even with an everburning torch), everburning torch (1 lb), alchemist fire/acid/holy water/thunderstone (1 lb each, good to have several of each), tanglefoot bag (4 lb each, just too good, 1 or 2 on hand as necissary is great), a spare weapon or two (1 - 22 lb), food (who knows), and whatever else even that guy might not have all that much extra carrying capacity.

We have a 16 strength barbarian in our party and he carries extra things that we find along the way pretty often. But, he likes to stay in medium load or less whenever possible which also means considering when he comes out of rage during combat and his strength drops to 14. Between his normal gear and a few odds and ends that we pick up now and then that puts him right at that edge and sometimes over, he just does not have the extra weight capacity to hold another persons stuff for them without getting the bigger penalties. Yes, he has come out of rage in quite a few combats so far by the way.

As far as the haversack goes though, it is a great item but your party might not have the money for it or might not have the ability to get one. I think that the earliest reasonable time that a party might start to have one or two is between levels 5 and 6 but even then if it is a choice between a ring of deflection +1 or the haversack people might go for the extra armor class. I think that every party that does not wish to have a pack mule or carts or something should pool money together to get one though as it solves a lot of problems, although whoever carries it must still contend with its 5 lbs of weight and those that are most likely to want to use it during combat often tend to be those who have the lower strength scores in my experience. Luckily, at small with about strength 10 or medium with about strength 12 that is not a problem though.

 

[Deset Gled]

I cannot believe this! I forgot the spell component pouch that a caster would carry. That is 2 lbs (not reduced because of size).

You also forgot the wizard's spellbook. That's another 3 lbs.

IME, wizards often can't afford enough equipment to be restriced by weight. If you pay enough attention to details to worry about weight, you generally are also fairly strict with wealth. And if you're strict with wealth, your wizard is going to be very poor. The cost of recording extra spells in your spellbook really adds up quick, especially with all of the specialty spells published in supplements.

I'm a big fan of kobolds, but their -4 strength has screwed me over on weight limits countless times.

 

[Nail]

IME, wizards often can't afford enough equipment to be restriced by weight.

<nods>And by the time they do have enough wealth, they have a HHH and/or BBB.

BTW, I'm pretty sure the weight of a quiver or bolt case is essentially included in the weight of the arrows or bolts themselves. There's no separate entry for it in the PH. It's just assumed.

Although I'm all for "following through" on the penalties associated with a certain race (or Str!) choice, I've always found encumberance to be a non-issue, or at the very least a "less-than-fun" issue, and thus I've dropped it when I DM. Most of the time PCs can carry whatever they'd like; when you actually "run the numbers", you find that there are few (if any) discrepancies.

So back to the thread's topic:

• Small size penalties are: -4 grapple, 20 ft move
• Small size benefits are: +1 Atk and AC, +4 hide

For PCs that are not front-line tanks, that looks like a net benefit.